James Baldwin: Collected Essays: Notes of a Native Son / Nobody Knows My Name / The Fire Next Time / No Name in the Street / The Devil Finds Work (LOA#98): 1 (Library of America James Baldwin Edition)

An excellent read , the author makes it really easy to imagine life for him and blacks in his eraHis writing style is very relatable, the issues he highlights are universalI'd say it's a classic

James Baldwin is the closest there is to George Orwell in the second part of the XXth Century, and has a range that makes all aspirants to write amaze, and his fellow writers simply pale. He is a superb novelist - see the plot of If Beale St could talk, recently made into an Oscar winning movie. But it is in his essays where he shines more. His various autobiographical notes put you right in the America of the sixties. His comments on race discrimitation (and violence) are the best written pieces on the racism of the Century. And YouTube allows us to see his many dissertations and TV debates, where he was always pitch-perfect, never beaten.As a coda - see I'm not your Negro after reading his books and try not to ask yourself over and over again, as he does repeatedly: what's the matter with human beings?

The Library of America Hardback edition books are great value: They normally contain a number of stories by the author; sometimes essays; and sometimes autobiographies.They have quality binding, with acid free paper, and offer work by a number of very important writers. Along with the Everyman's Library Classics Editions - they are my favourite book editions.

This is a wonderful book. An essential part of the American canon.

Amazing writing and more relevant than ever. Nice printed book, too.

A1

A gift for my grandson...so I can't really review. But he was thrilled.

James Baldwin wrote brilliant prose that was also insightful, inspired, humorous and deeply meaningful.This collection is great but the paper is tissue-thin, like the compact King James Bible of his time.So, no, I don’t recommend this edition unless it’s a disposable, read once purchase.